


Requiem for a Goddess {Hermione Granger}

by kenwantsabird



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Action, Action/Adventure, Alcohol, Alternate Canon, Angst, Asshole Main character, Beds, Bonding, Break Up, Canon Related, Comfort, Coming to terms with being gay, Confessions, Crushes, Crying, Death, Deviates From Canon, Drama, Dreams and Nightmares, Drug Addiction, Drugs, Education, Enemies, Enemies to Lovers, F/F, Falling In Love, Family, Family Dynamics, Fantasy, Feels, Female Character, Female MC - Freeform, Female Relationships, Fights, First Kiss, Flirting, Fluff, Found Family, Friendship, Gay Hermione, Girls Kissing, Gore, Happy Ending, Harm to Children, Hermione x fem reader, Hogwarts, Holidays, Homophobia, Hurt, Hurt/Comfort, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Idiots in Love, Injury, Internalized Homophobia, Intoxication, Jealousy, Kissing, LGBT, LGBTQ, LGBTQ Themes, Lesbian, Lesbian Hermione, Lesbian Relationship, Love Confession, Main character is a bit of an asshole, Mental Health Issues, Mourning, Mythical Beings & Creatures, Occasional fluff, Occasional hurt/comfort, POV First Person, Panic, Pining, Plot, Quidditch, Romance, Secrets, Slow Burn, Slytherin Main Character, Sports, Tags May Change, Violence, War, X reader but the reader is given a name, Yearning, adding tags so ppl who want this fix can find it, alternates from canon, and it’s in 1st person, angst with happy ending, follows through years 1-6 plus the war, friendship w pansy and draco, gay Hermione x reader, gay girl, gay girls, gay mc, gay relationship, girk x girl, lesbian mc, lgbtqia, mc is a beater for the Slytherin team if that means anything, quidditch player mc, slytherin MC, slytherin x gryffindor, starts out canon but alternates over time, well enemies to friends to enemies to lovers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-08
Updated: 2021-01-08
Packaged: 2021-03-10 16:33:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,024
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28380204
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kenwantsabird/pseuds/kenwantsabird
Summary: Odile Yaxley was a member of the Sacred 28, a group of high ranking wizarding families that prided themselves on being the last untainted pure bloods of the wizarding world. She was also the youngest member of the Yaxley family, and as such she was expected carry on the family legacy.When she enters Hogwarts at the young age of eleven, Odile has every intention of bringing pride to her family and to her father. Things take a turn, however, when she meets the young Hermione Granger, a genius mudblood prodigy who challenges everything Odile has ever been told to believe.-FIC follows years 1-6 and the war. Long-term slow burn but still shows the relationship. Common or requested TWs will be added in chapter notes when they apply.
Relationships: Hermione Granger/Original Female Character(s), Hermione Granger/Reader, Lavender Brown/Ron Weasley, Luna Lovegood/Ginny Weasley
Comments: 4
Kudos: 14





	Requiem for a Goddess {Hermione Granger}

Dad sat across the table, slowly fiddling with a letter opener. I knew what he was doing, watched his eyes when they dared a glance at me, I knew he was waiting for me to say something, to show a sign that I was too eager or nervous. In the hand without the opener he had the thick parchment envelope I’d been waiting for all summer, I had seen the signature green ink spelling out my name in a peculiar yet formidable scrawl. He wanted me to ask for him to get on with it and open the letter so that he could reprimand me for being demanding, childish, or insufferable. It was a game he’d been playing often as of late, testing my patience to see if I would break and disappoint him.

I kept my posture straight, my eyes attentively pointed at anywhere but the letter. I would wait him out.

I did not have to wait for very long. After a moment he let out a huff, and with a half sigh and half approving smile he sliced through the seal of the envelope, spilling out two pieces of parchment onto the table. He lifted the larger piece, held it up above his head and read out loud in his gravelly old voice:

“Dear Odile Yaxley, we are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find an enclosed list of all necessary books and equipment. Term begins on September 1st. We await your owl by no later than July 31st. Yours sincerely, Minerva Mcgonagall, deputy head mistress.”

He lowered the paper, turning it over and then setting it down on the dark oak table between us before picking up the other piece of parchment from the envelope. I watched, keeping my expressions even, as he read out loud a list of supplies. “We’ll have to have you fitted for robes at Twilfitt and Tattings, get you a proper wand,” he muttered once he was finished, taking both pieces of parchment and quickly folding them into his inner robe pocket, “tomorrow, that is. Have Benji wake you up early and be ready to leave at seven in the morning. If you aren’t ready, I will leave without you, and you will have to use supplies that you did not pick out for yourself. Do you understand?”

”Yes Father,” my voice was monotonous, even I could have fooled myself with it. He couldn’t hear the small note of stress I felt at his declaration. I knew he would take any opportunity to abandon me behind, he’d be leaving the second the clock strikes seven. 

”Good girl,” he rose from his seat, “Work will not allow me to attend lunch or dinner tonight, so you will dine alone. I will allow you to take your meal to your room just this once as a celebration for the occasion. Our family had attended Hogwarts for many generations, I am sure you will live up to the expectations that your ancestors demand of you, and that _I_ demand of you,” he fixed me with a pointed stare, “take pride this evening in being a Witch and a student of witchcraft, and in being a member of an honorable pureblood family such as ours. I will leave you now.” 

“Yes Father, I wish you a good evening and night.” 

He nodded in response and swiftly left the room, me sitting alone in it. We’d been in one of two sitting rooms, the one reserved for family events that was decorated with dark hues of blue and green. The area was large but crowded, stuffed with long sofa’s, loveseats, armchairs, and a series of small dark coffee tables, fit for entertaining the once large Yaxley family. Now there were only four of us, only three of which lived at home (my elder brother, Doran, had since married a moved out, though he visited during the holidays), and the room was humorously big for such a small group of people. 

I breathed in, soaking up the silence and privacy of the room, counting to ten in my head before letting my breath back out. With a small burst of energy, I pumped my fist in the air, whispering a small ‘yes!’ to myself, the smallest celebration I could muster for my acceptance letter. For weeks prior I had been paranoid, stressing over whether or not my Hogwarts letter would come, wondering if I would turn out to be a squib and bring shame to my family, if Albus Dumbledore would somehow decide that I was simply not worthy of schooling. I let relief flood my mind, grateful that I was not missing the biggest opportunity that young witches and wizards were offered. I would go to Hogwarts. 

-

When I arrived at my bedroom for dinner, Benji sat ready with a tray of food in her hand. Benji was an old house elf, tied to our manor for longer than I had been alive. She had large, drooping ears that my mother told me had once been perky, and a pointed face with large, green eyes that stood out as her most prominent feature. Her skin was grey, dry, and wrinkled, a sign of her age. However she was attentive despite her physical flaws, capable of achieving many tasks in short periods of time, and always spoke warmly to my family. My father despised her, and while I was practiced at speaking coldly to her -as was expected of Witches speaking to house elves- I could not help but appreciate the work she did for my family.

”Benji, listen,” I said, taking a seat at my bedside table, where I sometimes ate and sometimes studied (wizarding history, never magic.) “You must wake me up tomorrow early, at six in the morning at least, with my breakfast hot and ready to be eaten. Father is taking me out to Diagon Alley to shop for Hogwarts supplies, I received my acceptance letter this evening. I must have time to wake up and be ready by seven, or Father will leave without me.”

Benji nodded along as I spoke, placing my dinner of parmesan risotto with roasted shrimp in front of me, “What an accomplished mistress Benji has,” she spoke kindly, “I’m sure she will bring pride to her family. Do you have any requests for breakfast?”

”No, just have something ready by the time I’m awake. Perhaps coffee for my drink, but only a small cup, and don’t tell Father I requested it, he’ll throw a fit.”

”Yes Mistress.” She stood perfectly still, watching me as I took my first bites of food.

”You’re dismissed, Benji.”

”Oh,” I could swear she blushed in embarrassment, if house elves could blush, “Yes Mistress.” She turned and scuttled out of the room, assumingely off to whatever night duties that were expected of house elves. With the click of the door she left the room, leaving me alone.

I dropped the silverware I’d been holding and rushed to my bedside. My bed was large, king sized with dark blue covers and pillow sheets, set upon a large dark oak wooden frame. The frame was high, with drawers built into the bottom for storage, locked with large gray padlocks for my own privacy. The Yaxley family was full of secrets, and as such it was no more than expected when I had asked for a way to keep others from my drawers. The key to the lock, an old antique skeleton key, was dark and elaborately decorated. Like everything we owned, it was silently elegant, just so thoughtfully made that nobody would question that it was of value, but never enough to seemingly peacock the wealth that hid behind it. I opened the drawer and drew it out, bending over the tall edge from where I sat on the floor. 

Inside the drawer there were several items. A package, still unopened, covered in sky blue parcel paper and tied with a green ribbon, a stock of delphinium tucked in. A large leather notebook, once well crafted but now falling apart, stuffed with varying sizes of folded up papers, kept closed only by a band of matching leather that buckled around it. Several small parcels that held pieces of cursed or blessed jewelry, all given to me by Doran, who though I might one day have use of them. A wand, unmarked by the ministry, that I’d stolen a long time ago but never dared to use. And then, towards the bottom, a set of letters, each made out in dark green ink, the same cursive calligraphy, with my name on them. I lifted the letters from the drawer, and turned to my side so that my back rested against the bed frame. I untied the cotton string that held the letter together, and counted them to make sure nobody had taken one. There were eleven in total, four opened and the rest unopened. For years I’d been saving these, leaving the contents a mystery except for special occasions in which I would open a new one.

My acceptance into Hogwarts wasn’t a special occasion, I knew that, but I wanted to read the old ones again, or at least one of them. I took the top letter from the stack, setting the rest aside. The letter remained in its original envelope when I wasn’t reading it, a worn and yellowing piece of paper enfolding upon my dearest possession. I removed the single paper letter, a paragraph written on a torn out page of a lined notebook.

_odile, dearest_

_it has been fourteen days since i have arrived here, and the whole staff fusses over me like a small child. i miss home, the scent of our garden. i had that garden planted in the year you were born, i always wanted to teach you how to cultivate the herbs and flowers for potions once you reached hogwarts age. everything here smells too pristine, too metallic, i can sometimes nearly taste metal on my tongue. i long for the outdoors, but i cannot be in the sun yet. i hope your father makes arrangements for us to meet soon, i ask for you and doran every day. live well until I can return._

_\- mother_

I press the letter to my chest, careful not to press too hard and wrinkle it. Quickly, I place it back inside of the envelope, gathering together the rest of the letters and retrying them together so they wouldn’t scatter about in the drawer. I put them back where they belong, closing and locking the drawer and replacing the key from where I’d taken it from this morning, in a small hole in the wall hidden by the headboard of my bed.

Downstairs, I heard a grandfather clock seven times. I finish my dinner somewhat hastily, leave the dishes outside of my door for Benji to pick up. I have nothing to do for the rest of the day, my schedule cleared as it often is in the summer. It’s too early to get ready for bed, but I find myself collapsing onto my covers anyways, my clothes and brown textile boots still on. I don’t sleep, just stare at the wall opposite of me, covered in stone blue wallpaper, elaborate nothing designs creeping upwards in tall lines. I wasn’t allowed to choose how my room looked, but I was always happy to sleep here, blue fits me. 

I hear father yell something at Benji from downstairs, and at the same time a dark cloud in the skies gives out the night’s first tumble of thunder. For the next week, it would rain. Somewhere else, a girl with a mess of frizzy hair had also just learned she would be going to Hogwarts, and had had purchased a history book on the school. She poured over the pages, taking in every sentence. She though thunderstorms were comforting, good weather for staying inside and reading. 

Lightning struck, a flash of white light. I turned over in my bed, tried to to turn my brain off.


End file.
